Welcome Like Jesus (Throwback Sunday)
If you’ve been around Riverwood on a Sunday morning, you’ve heard the word. A worship leader says it. Whoever is doing announcements says it. I say it myself: “Welcome to Riverwood’s worship gathering.” It’s printed in the same font you see when you walk up to our front doors. It’s a word you expect to hear at a church. You’d expect it at a business. You probably use it at your own house when guests come over — “Hey, welcome!”
But have you ever stopped and asked what that word actually means biblically? Crack open a dictionary and you’ll get something like “an instance of greeting.” That’s it. A synonym for hi.
Scripture has something far deeper in mind. Welcoming is not a fancy word for hello. So let’s open our Bibles to Romans 15 and see it for ourselves.
Why Romans 15?
A couple of weeks ago we finished chapter 12 in our series through the book of Acts, and then we had our Thanksgiving service. The natural move would have been to jump straight back into Acts. But Acts 13 takes the whole story in a brand-new direction, and with Advent right around the corner, we won’t get back to that thread for several weeks — realistically not until spring. It felt strange to launch something that big and then abandon it for months. So we’ll pick Acts back up next spring.
Which left the question: what about today? And I kept coming back to this small, potent passage in Romans 15. I think it will help you personally live the kind of life God calls you to and the kind of life you actually want to live. I also think it will help us as a church become who God is calling us to be — especially with the opportunity Advent is about to hand us.
Here are verses 1 through 7:
We who are strong have an obligation to bear with the failings of the weak, and not to please ourselves. Let each of us please his neighbor for his good, to build him up. For Christ did not please himself, but as it is written, “The reproaches of those who reproached you fell on me.” For whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, that through endurance and through the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope. May the God of endurance and encouragement grant you to live in such harmony with one another, in accord with Christ Jesus, that together you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore welcome one another as Christ has welcomed you, for the glory of God.
Our key verse is verse 7: welcome one another as Christ has welcomed you. But notice how that sentence begins — with the word therefore. And as pastors love to say, you have to ask what the “therefore” is there for. A “therefore” is always attached to what came just before it. So to understand verse 7, we have to work through verses 1 through 6. And when verse 1 opens with “we who are strong have an obligation to bear with the failings of the weak,” it feels like we’ve dropped into the middle of a conversation.
That’s because we have. Chapter 15 is a continuation of chapter 14 — where, in verse 1, the same idea of welcome shows up. Verse 7 of chapter 15 is the bookend. So we need to know what the first bookend was holding.
Food, Feasts, and Faith
For time’s sake we won’t read all of chapter 14, so let me summarize. Paul is dealing with two things — food and feasts — and underneath both of them, a third thing: faith.
Some followers of Jesus were saying, “All food is fine. It’s ceremonially clean. It’s no big deal for me to eat it.” Others, mostly those from a Jewish background, were saying, “Wait a second. The Mosaic law forbade that, and that, and that. If we’re going to glorify God, those foods are off limits.” It created real tension inside the church.
Same with feast days. Some people said, “There are holy days God gave us to help us worship and to remember certain things about Him — we need to observe those.” Others said, “Every day is holy. This is the day the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad in it. Why make one day special when all of them are?” More tension.
Keep reading through Scripture and you’ll find the same friction over circumcision, over the Sabbath, over a handful of other issues where some believers said “this is good and right” and others said “this isn’t a big deal at all.”
We’d like to think this is all ancient history. It isn’t.
When I was nine years old, I was convinced that drinking alcohol was a sin. If I found out someone in my church family had a glass of wine at dinner, I really struggled with it. I assumed they must not love God as much as I did, because when I grew up I certainly wasn’t going to touch the stuff. It was a genuine stumbling block for me — and I was quietly judging people over a sip of wine.
For other people it’s meat. Within Christianity, Seventh-day Adventists are the clearest example — somewhere around 40 to 50 percent are vegetarian. For some it’s purely a health decision. For others it’s an act of worship: God made Adam and Eve, put them in a garden, and gave them the fruit of the trees to eat. That was the original design, so that’s what they choose. Most of them don’t judge anyone who eats meat. But there’s a small sliver who genuinely could not sit down in a restaurant and be served a steak. For them it would violate something they believe is right and good in their worship of God.
Same with the Sabbath. Most Seventh-day Adventists don’t judge those of us who worship on Sunday, but they observe the Sabbath from Friday sundown to Saturday sundown, and they gather on Saturday mornings. For a portion of them, that is the holy day — and worshiping on any other day is sin.
Years ago, back when I lived in Cedar Rapids, I had the joy of watching a college student come to know Christ and start to grow. I got to disciple him a bit, though he connected more deeply with another guy who walked with him for about two years. Then he graduated, moved away, and we lost touch. Years later he showed up on social media and I was genuinely excited to reconnect — until I read what he was posting. His position was that if you worship God on Sunday, you bear the mark of the beast. Sunday worship was evil. Saturday was the only legitimate day. He could not have walked into my church on a Sunday morning, because to him it would have been sin.
We could keep going. People struggle with certain kinds of music. Certain forms of entertainment. I had grandparents who struggled with card games. I know people who struggle with yoga. There are dozens of areas where one believer says “I don’t think that’s good” and another says “I honestly don’t see the issue.”
If It’s Wrong for You, It’s Wrong for You
Romans 14 gives us a startling principle: if it feels wrong for you, it is wrong for you. And if it isn’t an issue for you, you have the freedom to enjoy it. If you can’t eat bacon with a clear conscience, bacon is sin for you. If you can eat it with a clear conscience — enjoy that bacon.
If that makes you uncomfortable because it doesn’t sound fair, I hear you. The first time I ever heard a sermon on conscience, I disagreed with it. It seemed obvious to me that if something isn’t good for me, it shouldn’t be good for anybody — that’s what fair means. If I think cards are wrong, cards are wrong for everyone. If I think a certain book series is evil, it’s evil for everyone. If I think wearing black is bad, then it’s bad for everyone.
But Paul says no. If it’s a problem for you, then for you it’s a problem — don’t engage, because for you it would be sin. And if you can engage in that activity guilt-free, conscience clear, and still worship your heavenly Father, then it’s fine.
Now, this is not a universal principle that flattens every category. Please don’t come to me afterward and say, “I’m so glad you shared this, because now I can have an affair with no guilt.” You laugh — and yet we do sometimes try to drag black-and-white issues into the gray zone. There are absolutely black-and-white areas. You cannot tell me you can commit murder on Friday and worship freely on Sunday. We all know that’s sin, and it’s sin for everyone. But some of you can stretch and do yoga on a Friday with a completely clear conscience, while others of you would feel like you were inviting something spiritually dangerous into your life. For you, it would be wrong. For someone else, it isn’t.
That’s the background walking us into chapter 15.
Strong Means Obligated
Notice verse 1: “We who are strong” — meaning those who feel they have the freedom to enjoy the barbecue, listen to that kind of music, wear those particular clothes — “have an obligation to bear with the failings of the weak, and not to please ourselves.”
In other words, when you’re deciding what to wear, what to watch, what to eat, you have to consider other people. This isn’t only about you and your freedom. It’s also about them. It is cruel to relish barbecue in front of someone who is a vegetarian on conviction. It would have been cruel to enjoy a glass of wine in front of nine-year-old me, because that puts your freedom ahead of another person’s conscience.
Verse 2: “Let each of us please his neighbor for his good, to build him up.” Writing to the church in Philippi, Paul said much the same thing — consider the needs of others before your own. We are to live Christ-centered but others-focused. You look at where someone actually is, and if they aren’t comfortable with something, you set it aside. You can enjoy that beer another time. You can watch that movie on your own. You can play those games at a different hour. When they’re with you, your heart is for them. They matter to God, so you love them, and that builds friendship and unity.
Even the Christ Didn’t Please Himself
To help us see it, verse 3 gives an illustration: “For Christ did not please himself, but as it is written, ‘The reproaches of those who reproached you fell on me.'”
Jesus is the only person who ever lived without sin. There was no reproach that could rightly land on Him. And yet everything that was owed because of our sin, He absorbed. There was nothing pleasurable about the cross. He wasn’t grinning as the lashes hit His back. He wasn’t laughing when the crown of thorns was jammed onto His head. He didn’t shrug when the nails went through His wrists. It was agony. And He did it for you. He put you first.
Notice also that the verse doesn’t use His name — it uses His title. Christ. The Messiah. The Son of God. The King of the universe. If anyone ever had the right to put Himself first, it’s Jesus. And even the Christ did not please Himself. He put you first and did what you needed. So if the King of the universe can live that way, then those of us who are not kings can certainly do it for one another.
You Will Have to Endure — and You Won’t Be Alone
If you’re thinking, “That’s hard” — you’re right. It’s brutally difficult. You live inside your own thoughts, your own desires, your own preferences. Setting yourself aside to focus on someone else’s need is a constant effort. Sometimes it’s a joy. Sometimes, when you’re tired and worn out from a long week, other people simply don’t feel as important as you feel to yourself.
Which is exactly why God gave us verse 4: “For whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, that through endurance and through the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope.” The quotation at the end of verse 3 comes from Psalm 69, one of those “former days” texts. Yes, putting others first will require endurance. But God hasn’t left you to white-knuckle it. He’s given you the Scriptures to encourage you.
And some of you are already doing this without labeling it. Moms, you are patiently enduring with your children, putting them first, encouraging them to become who God wants them to be. Good husbands do this — they patiently persevere for the sake of their wives, encouraging them into who God is making them to be. Good bosses do this — they don’t obsess over themselves, they focus on their people and how to put them first, because when their people thrive, everything thrives.
That’s what Christ did. He endured the cross for us, and then handed us the Scriptures to encourage us to live like Him and love like Him.
What “Welcome” Actually Means
All of that is the runway for verse 7: “Therefore welcome one another as Christ has welcomed you, for the glory of God.”
The Greek word behind “welcome” here is proslambanō. The ESV renders it “welcome,” which captures one of its meanings — to take someone into your home. But it carries a second, richer sense: to take someone into yourself. Into your heart.
That’s what Christ did. When He died on a cross and walked out of an empty tomb, He took us into Himself. He didn’t offer a casual handshake and a “yeah, sure, come on in.” He welcomed us into Himself. This is why Paul so often talks about believers being in Christ. You are welcomed into His kingdom. You become part of Him, because you matter that much to Him. You are in His heart.
So welcoming is not a fancy word for hi. It is a wholehearted, open-handed bringing of people in. That’s why some translations render it “accept one another,” and others “receive one another.” To welcome like Jesus is to ask: are we accepting people? Are we receiving them? Are we welcoming as Christ welcomed us, for the glory of God?
Living It Out Individually
I believe this gets lived out in two ways, and the first is personal.
If you follow Jesus, you’re called to carry this heart, this posture. So ask yourself honestly: are you welcoming people who look different than you? Dress differently? Have a different accent, different hobbies? Or do you only place yourself around people who are basically versions of you — who vote like you, act like you, think like you?
Are you accepting of people with a different viewpoint, or do you only accept those already inside your tribe? Are you receiving people from a different background, or only the ones you’re confident will accept you back? Are you willing to open up and welcome new people, or do you stick to the same small circle?
Some of you are hoping for an introvert loophole. I understand the pull — I’m an ambivert, so some days I’m outward and some days I want to be alone. I just came off a three-day spiritual retreat by myself and it was wonderful. I did not miss you. And then Sunday rolled around and I couldn’t wait to see you. So I get it.
But I don’t care how introverted you are: if you know that Jesus loves you, died for you, and rose from the dead, this call is for you too. It doesn’t mean denying how God wired you. It means that even as an introvert you live Christ-centered and others-focused. The question isn’t whether — it’s how you do this as an introvert.
I also know that when you’re going through something hard, this feels nearly impossible. Problems at home, problems at work, problems in your body, in your mind, in your bank account — it is so easy to curl inward and so difficult to stay outwardly welcoming.
So live in the tension. When Jesus was asked for the greatest commandment, He said love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength — and then He added a second: love your neighbor as yourself. Which means caring for yourself is part of the deal, because as you’re cared for, you’re freed up to love your neighbor.
Your depression, your crisis, your struggle is not permission to be rude or to ignore people. But neither are you permitted to be rude to yourself and ignore your own needs. If you need counseling, get counseling. If you need to take your meds, take your meds. If you need people around you, get into a growth group and let them help carry it. Help yourself so that you can help others.
What your struggle is not is a loophole — “I’ll start welcoming people once this is all better.” Christ says live this way now. Because you never know: the person you’d have ignored might be the very one God is sending to walk you through your trial. Or they might be going through the exact thing you’re going through, and you’ll end up carrying each other toward healing — grateful that you welcomed one another.
Living It Out Corporately
The second way is together. Paul isn’t writing to one Roman. He’s writing to the Romans — the church in Rome, a body of people. This is meant to be lived out corporately, by all of them. Not the pastors. Not the elders. All of them. Verse 2 says “let each of us.” You can’t outsource this to somebody else on staff. If you follow Jesus and you’re part of a church family, each of us welcomes as Christ welcomed us.
And there’s a beautiful payoff when we actually do it. Verses 5 and 6: “May the God of endurance and encouragement grant you to live in such harmony with one another, in accord with Christ Jesus, that together you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.”
I have a deep suspicion that you want that kind of church. That you long to be part of something with that unity, that heart of care. Good news: God wants it too. It is His desire for His church. And when we welcome one another well right here, we’re being formed into people who can welcome the newcomer well too.
Over the last couple of months we’ve had a number of first-time guests. Some have told me we’re a warm, welcoming church. A few even went online, unprompted, and left glowing reviews about how welcoming Riverwood is. That’s wonderful.
And in that very same stretch, three separate people told me they didn’t feel welcomed here. They didn’t feel fully accepted. They weren’t received. That breaks my heart, because I know the kind of church we are and the posture you genuinely want to have. Which means we aren’t doing this perfectly yet, and we can grow.
If someone is going to have a complaint about Riverwood, don’t let it be that we didn’t welcome them. I would much rather someone say, “They just kept loving on me — they were so kind, I honestly wanted to be left alone for a minute.” If a person wants to be ignored, they’ll find a large church where they can slip in and slip out. But if someone is willing to walk into a church this size, ignoring them is cruel. That’s not who we are, and it isn’t who God has called us to be.
The Opportunity in Front of Us
We have Advent coming, and Christmas is a beautiful season to invite and to welcome. That’s why we made the invite cards — hand one to somebody. Nothing says “I welcome you into my life” like an invitation. An invitation says: I want to accept you. I want to receive you into my life. I have been blessed by my church family and I’d love to share it with you.
That’s the individual part. But when that new person walks in, I hope you aren’t the only one who talks to them. Introduce yourself. Ask how they found us, where they’re from, what they do, about their family. Take an interest. And if they never ask you a single question back — who cares? You have a church family that will love you and listen to you. And if you’re not receiving that kind of care, then reach out and invite someone into your struggle so we can carry it with you.
As we live this out, we get to experience the harmony Paul describes. This isn’t a job assigned to pastors, elders, staff, and leaders. It’s for each of us — to welcome one another as Christ welcomed you, for the glory of God.
The Welcome of Jesus
When Jesus went to the cross, His hands were spread wide as those nails were driven in. He was opening Himself up to welcome you.
Our sin kept us separated from God, and that separation grieved Him. He loves us. His image is in us. You matter. And He knew you could never pay the penalty yourself — if you paid the penalty of death, you’d be separated from Him forever. So Jesus came as a baby, took on human flesh, lived a full human life without sin, and became the only one who could go to that cross and die that death without owing it for Himself. That’s what made it possible for Him to die it for the world.
He loves you. He is for you. And He welcomes you.
If you’ve never given your life to Jesus, hear the invitation. The way into those open arms is the cross. Most people, when they realize what God has done for them, mark the moment in prayer — confessing their sin, acknowledging that they haven’t been seeking Him, and recognizing that His heart has been for them the whole time. If that’s you, pray it. Give your life to Jesus, because He gave His life for you.
And if you already follow Jesus, that invitation hasn’t expired. It’s there every day, every moment — to come in to Him. Whatever you’re wrestling with, whether it’s worry about the holidays or something that happened this weekend, bring your burdens and cast them on Him, because He cares for you.
Welcome one another as Christ has welcomed you, for the glory of God.
